There was a time when Houston Zoo passed off rubber snake as real

Updated 2:26 pm, Friday, August 16, 2013

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A real coral snake (Houston Chronicle)

A real coral snake (Houston Chronicle)

There was a time when Houston Zoo passed off rubber snake as real

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The recent tale out of China about a Tibetan mastiff dogbeing passed off as a lion at a zoo, along with other decidedly domestic beasts masquerading as leopards and wolves, brought to mind similar Houston story from September 1984.

A frequent visitor to the Houston Zoo asked then curator-in-charge John Donaho why the coral snake in the reptile house hadn't moved in nine months.

''We have had live snakes in the exhibit, but they don't do well - they tend to die,'' said John Donaho. ''Rather than kill snakes, we put out a rubber one for people to be able to see what they look like.''

Today, the Houston Zoo can positively say that all of their animals on display are the real things.

"The only fake animals at the zoo today are the sculptures," said PR director Brian Hill at the Houston Zoo, adding that all of their current animals are true down to their DNA.

He's not sure whose idea it was back in 1984 to fake the snake.

"The only option now would be pure speculation," Hill said. He says that there are employees still on staff who date back to the coral snake era.

One story did leak out from Hill though, via an employee who wished to remain anonymous.

A few days after the story broke, a box arrived in Houston from another zoo on the East Coast, which wasn't named. The box contained a brand-new rubber coral snake and "breeding loan" documentation, done by the book.

For their part, the Chinese zoo claimed that they were doing the best they could in difficult economic times.